The Ending of a Nightmare the Beginning of a Dream
by Ekko Rayne
Summary: Kenshin has reoccurring nightmares of his former wife Tomoe. Kaoru finally goes to him and he tells her the whole story. Can Kenshin tell her why the nightmares began? What does Kaoru have to say? Please R&R.


_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters or story line. All rights reserved for its creator.**_

A/N: This is my first Rurouni Kenshin fic so bear with me while you read it. Its been awhile since I've seen the anime or read the manga so, but I'm still going to give it my best shot. I hope you enjoy it.

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**The Ending of a Nightmare, the Beginning of a Dream**

"Tomoe." A single word escaped the former manslayers lips as he fought through the reoccurrence of a tragic nightmare. After he suffered through the final remnants of the dream he jerked awake. He was covered in a drenching cold sweat that left his body shivering in the early morning chill. His breaths were coming out fast as he drew in a lung full of the crisp winter air seeping in through his doorway.

His heart calmed its erratic tattoo against his ribcage as he ran a shaky hand across his face. "It was only another nightmare that it was."

He had been dreaming, as of late, of his long deceased wife and the horror that had been her death, a death that had been at his own hand. He ran a finger along the cross shaped scar upon his left cheek, a final token from his wife as she had lain dying in his arms. He felt he had deserved more than the single perpendicular line she had bestowed upon him with her blade during her final moments of life. He had deserved so much more than that.

To this day he still hated himself for murdering the one person who had shown him a different side of the life he chose to lead. He had been a manslayer then, a weapon used by many, a sword to corrupt and kill and she had been his sheath, his salvation when he almost lost what little humanity he still possessed.

Shaking his head, to clear the last remnants of the nightmare from his mind, he got out of bed and dressed for the day. He knew the others would be awake soon so he left his room to go about preparing breakfast. Upon entering the kitchen he saw the woman who had stirred his heart after so many years of keeping it closed off. It was because of his growing feelings for her that the nightmares had begun.

He forced a smile on his face as she turned from her chopping the vegetables before. "Good morning Miss Kaoru."

"Kenshin, you're up rather early this morning."

"I could say the same about you Miss Kaoru."

She smiled at him, a smile the warmed his heart, chasing the remaining chill from the nightmare away. "I uh…I couldn't get back to sleep when I woke this morning."

She turned away from him but not before Kenshin caught the worry in her eyes. He knew she had heard him cry out Tomoe's name on more than one morning. He had heard her footfalls outside his door, but she had never disturbed him. She had simply walked away leaving him to his torments. He must have woken his this morning.

"Did I wake you again Miss Kaoru?"

"No um…no you didn't. I was just…"

"I am terribly sorry that I am. I did not mean to wake you with my nightmares."

"Oh Kenshin."

He didn't move away as she came to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his body. He took comfort in the feel of her. She felt as real as the terrors in the nightmares did. In her embrace he felt the terror recede and happiness seep in. Tomoe was gone and Kaoru was alive, here and now in this new life he created as a wanderer.

OoOoOoO

Kaoru awoke at Kenshin's cry. _He must be having another nightmare._ She got up, wrapping her robe around herself she left her room. Padding softly to her destination she stopped just outside Kenshin's room. She could see his silhouette in the flickering light of a candle within his room.

Resisting the urge to leave him with his torment in solitude, as she normally did, she slid open his door just enough to peer inside. "Kenshin?"

He was sitting up, his head bowed towards his lap. She could see the beaded sweat upon his skin and his shoulders were shaking, from the winter cold or from the nightmare Kaoru was unsure.

"Can I come in?"

He nodded his head in consent as he ran a hand along his face, his fingers grazing the scar on his left cheek. She opened the door the a little more so that she could enter before shutting it behind her. She went and kneeled beside his futon reaching her hand out to gently touch the one that lay still in his lap.

"Are you okay Kenshin?"

"It was only another nightmare, Miss Kaoru, that it was."

Kaoru was worried about him. He had been having these nightmares more and more frequently. He always awoke the same way, calling out the name 'Tomoe'. She didn't know who Tomoe was but for Kenshin to call out her name in such anguish she must have been important to him at one time. "You can talk to me you know. I'm here for you Kenshin."

He drew in a deep breath, his shoulders shuddering on the exhale. He looked up into her eyes and seemed to struggle with himself for a minute before he sighed. "I was married once during the days when I was still a manslayer."

Kaoru gasped. This wasn't something she had known about her wanderer. "Married?"

"Well in the common sense no. It was a ploy in the beginning, something created by a man I worked for. He had set the entire thing up so that I could escape from people who were after all of us. No one would come looking for a married man, a married man couldn't possibly be a manslayer, a murderer."

Kaoru watched and listened as his violet eyes took on a faraway look. "We moved into a small cabin on a mountain. We planted a garden when spring arrived and sold medicine in the nearby village under the guise as husband and wife. I soon fell in love with Tomoe and asked her to be my wife in the real sense of the word. When she agreed I was happier than I had ever been, but I never knew that she was a double agent."

Kaoru saw the pain in his eyes. She wanted to reach out to him, hold him, but she knew he wasn't finished with his tale so she stayed still.

"I was young, foolish and in love. I was blinded by it. While my heart soared with the joy of it hers was mourning another. I had never known until the very end that a man I had killed during a bodyguard assassination was a man she had been intended to marry. She had harbored that secret from me. I only found out after she had left and a man I had trusted, a man who in the end betrayed me, stopped by for a visit. He told me to look into a journal that she had kept. I knew of the journal, she had tried to keep it hidden from me, only writing in the dead of night."

Kenshin clenched the hand that Kaoru held. She hated seeing him relive this torture. She hated that he had ever gone through it. She ached for the man before her, the man she had grown to love in the short time he had been with her. She tightened her hand around his willing him to continue his story.

"I read what she had written. She had written in detail of her betrothed's death, of her first sighting of me, of leaving and beginning a life with me, but no where in there did I ever read of her love for me. I was hurt, heartbroken. I felt betrayed. I couldn't bring myself to hate her though. Instead of just letting her leave as she had done so that morning I followed after her. I didn't know what I expected when I found her but what I came upon was a battle. I was so devastated that I couldn't find my will to fight and then she came out. She got in the middle of me and the man I was fighting and my sword went right through her."

He closed his eyes as the memory became a vivid image in his mind. "I held her until she died. I had been a fool to believe she had never loved me. I saw it clearly in her eyes as death began to cloud them. In one last act she drew her blade and gave me this scar. I have carried this scar and her memory ever since."

He didn't cry, no tears formed in his eyes. He just sat there after finishing his story. Kaoru finally moved to embrace him. "Oh Kenshin I'm so sorry."

"You shouldn't worry about me Miss Kaoru, no you shouldn't. It was my own foolishness that caused Tomoe's death that it was."

Kaoru just held him close to her. She recalled all the times she had heard him call out Tomoe's name. All except this night. "Kenshin you didn't call out Tomoe's name tonight."

"No that I did not."

"It was my name you called out this time. Why Kenshin?"

Kenshin looked into her eyes, eyes so full of love and worry for him. Those eyes saw straight into his soul. "This time I saw your face instead of hers. It was you who died in my arms instead of Tomoe."

"Me?"

"Yes Miss Kaoru. I have come to see you as a woman I wish to be with. The nightmares began when I realized that that they did. It had always been Tomoe's face I saw until this night."

Kaoru's heart thudded against her chest. _He wants to be with me? Did I hear Kenshin right?_

"Kenshin you need not fear for my life. You are no longer the manslayer you use to be. I know that you would never let anything happen to me. Kenshin I love you."

"Miss Kaoru…"

She stopped him from speaking by pressing her lips against his. Her kiss silenced all words that he could have spoken. She poured every ounce of love she had for the wanderer into that kiss. Finally, when she thought he would push her away, he kissed her back. It was a kiss filled with passion and love.

Finally they broke away leaning the heads against each other's. "Miss Kaoru?"

Her name came out a breath against her face. "Yes Kenshin?"

"I love you too."

No more words were needed. They lay down snuggled together against the cold. They lay like that while dawn began to break. When the first rays of light lit the room they both slept. No more nightmare came to the wanderer as he held his dream within his arms.

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_Well here is the end of my very first Rurouni Kenshin fic. I hope you enjoyed. Please send me your reviews whether it be a good one or the dreaded flame. All reviews are welcome._


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